The O'Neill Lifetime Achievement Award cocktail reception, scheduled to begin at 6 PM, will be held one day after the 123rd anniversary of O'Neill's birth and just north of the Times Square location where he was born.

Irish Repertory Theatre founders Charlotte Moore, who is also the company's artistic director, and Ciarán O'Reilly, producing director, will accept the award on behalf of the theatre.

The annual award is given to an Irish American writer or artist who has created a body of work that places them among the great artists and entertainers of all time.

"Together, starting with little more than a shared dream and indefatigable determination, [Moore and O'Reilly have] made the Rep into one of the theatrical community's most creatively vibrant and artistically significant venues," IAW&A board member T.J. English said in a statement.

Opening its doors in 1988 with Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars, The Irish Repertory Theatre has consistently pursued its mission to bring works by Irish and Irish American masters and contemporary playwrights to American audiences, to provide a context for understanding the contemporary Irish-American experience, and to encourage the development of new works focusing on the Irish and Irish-American experience. In addition to the Eugene O'Neill Lifetime Achievement Award, the Irish Rep has been honored with the 2007 Jujamcyn Award, a special Drama Desk Award for Excellence in Presenting Distinguished Irish Drama, and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work.

Past recipients of the O'Neill Award include actor Brian Dennehy in 2010 and novelist William Kennedy in 2009.

Founded and operated as a non-profit organization, Irish American Writers & Artists, Inc. celebrates the achievements of Irish-American writers and artists, past and present, and works to highlight, energize and encourage Irish Americans working in the arts.

The Manhattan Club is located at 800 7th Avenue. For more information and tickets, click here.